Learning a language

So they say we learn until we die, and when it comes to a new language, it is indeed true, everyday you discover new words, everyday is a learning experience. Learning a new language is not easy, i may sound fluent, i may even sound like a local, but the process of learning is not an easy one, people do not make it any easier for you. You have those who will constantly laugh at u when u make mistakes, both written or verbal. There was never a need to write in foreign language but now with social networks, there r those who will laugh at u for misspelling.

The truth is, u cannot learn a new language unless u're brave enough to make the mistakes and learn from them. Some words have the same spelling but different pronunciation, depending on context. One thing for sure, it doesn't feel good to be laughed at when you pronounce wrongly, however there is a learning experience from that, i learn how shallow people actually are. Lets assume u r my friend, or u r in my circles, u r privy to the information that i am not a local, yet u expect me to speak like one, or even better, is this a reasonable expectation? Do you think a person actually learns after you've laughed at them, or they only learn just how shallow u r.

I suppose learning a language is voluntary, it isn't forced on a person, i have peers who have lived in the country longer than myself but hardly speak the language, n luckily in Swaziland unlike Tanzania where i come from, u can actually survive without having to speak the language. So in that regard i guess i chose to learn to speak the language. Within 2 years of my stay in the country i was speaking broken Siswati already. One thing i can tell u is that this particular language or possibly most Southern African languages rnt the easiest to learn due to the clicks and other difficult words. Mastering how to pronounce those clicks is an almost impossible task at first. But it is a wonderful journey as well, u learn more about urself while learning something new, u learn how resilient u can be, the ability to quickly switch between the languages can be fun at times.

We normally do this with my sisters, where we can quickly switch from siSwati to Kiswahili if there is need to have a private conversaation without having to move away from the crowd. Of course the downside to this is that sometimes u think u're speaking a different language only to find that u r actually speaking the local language n people can understand u, or sometimes u speak to a fellow Tanzanian in siSwati, yes u can turn into the joke of the day. U learn to be bold, u learn to stand ur ground. Noone is perfect, the people who claim to be perfect in speaking the language cannot themselves even write in that language, why then should a foreigner be criticized for having that same fault?? Is it funnier when a foreigner makes the mistake?....... #foodforthought